Howdy. Well, for a while I've been warning you that hormones
during the final stages of pregnancy can lead to lunacy. Now I have
proof. This started one night when I was actually sleeping pretty
soundly (for once) and was rudely interrupted by my four year old
son who seems to think he can't sleep alone. What progressed is a
nice LONG relationship story which did many things and has
several 'parts'. It's got mothers, fathers, fathers to be, mothers to
be, ghostly aunts (yes, Melissakeeters, she's back), government
conspiracies, those guys in that fancy gentleman's club in New York
and a couple of spoilers for the third season. But, hey, it was fun to
write. What can I say?
MAJOR WARNINGS: (If you read nothing else, read this)
RELATIONSHIP AHEAD. No sex described but suffice it to say
that it is definitely hinted at. Non relationshippers, I have a nice
long one in the works for you which will be out sometime after
Stevie. :)
THIRD SEASON SPOILER. A lot of third season spoilers, but
not much beyond 'Paperclip'.
ADULT THEMES AND DISCUSSIONS (premarital sex) merit
this at least a PG 15 in my opinion, maybe a mild R
REAL DISCLAIMER: Since I've already taken too much of your
time, no copyright infringement intended. And I love youse stuff,
Chris. XA disclaimer also applies.
THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATIONS: To everyone who has
gone before (I would mention you all, but I would leave someone
out and be horrified for weeks) and done excellent stories of 'the
first time they got together'--thank you. You saved me from doing
that part myself. This is dedicated to all of you.
Comments, baby food recipes, diaper wipe coupons, send to me at
vickiemoseley1978@yahoo.com
EVERY MOTHER DREAMS
by Vickie Moseley
vickiemoseley1978@yahoo.com
Greenwich Conn.
March 20, 1996
2:00 am
Moonlight reflecting off the 3 or 4 inches of new fallen snow
gave the room a light, almost eerie quality as she started awake.
She had heard the noise before she felt the presence. Rolling over
(no easy task, these days) she looked into the eyes of the three foot
tall munchkin standing next to the bed. His brown hair was messed
from sleep, his hazel eyes only half open, worn out blanket and a
stuffed bear in full rain apparel with 'Niagara Falls' emblazoned on
its chest were clutched possessively in the munchkin's arms.
"Momma, come lay down with me. I'm all alone," the tiny voice
whined.
"Did you go to the bathroom," she asked. Standard question of
anyone under the age of 5 in the middle of the night.
"Yep," came the bright reply. He had been potty trained before
the age of two, he was an expert at this.
"OK, I'll come lie down with you. But just till you go back to
sleep," she sighed and extracted herself from the thick comforters
and into the night chill. She stretched awkwardly. The baby
growing within her was getting larger and taking up more room.
Her back and her ribs felt it most. At least at the moment, _that_
offspring seemed to be sleeping, so maybe she could eventually get
back to sleep, as well.
She watched the little munchkin trot off toward his bedroom and
followed. This was standard procedure, it seemed. She did this
every night. She only hoped that with the arrival of the new baby,
he might feel that he wasn't so alone in the world, and she might
actually get some sleep in her own bed. She snorted to herself at
that thought. Definitely a 2 am kind of thought--no basis in reality
whatsoever.
As she turned the corner to enter his room, she froze. This was
a hospital room. She looked at the small child's hospital bed, the
tiny figure lying there was connected to assorted machines, all
hissing and chugging and making strange noises. The doctors, two
of them, were conferring with her husband she
added in her own mind. Maggie said nothing, waiting for the story
to continue.
Taking a deep breath, Dana started again. "Mom, I didn't really
want to tell you this, well, not like this, anyway. Mulder and I," she
stopped and searched for the words to soften the blow. "Since
Christmas we've. . ."
"Discovered you were in love and decided to act on that
discovery?" Maggie filled in for her. Dana swallowed hard and
nodded. Maggie's smile lit up the small waiting room. "Baby, I'm
so happy for you. It's something I've often wished for, but I knew
you two had to come to this decision on your own, so I never said
anything." Maggie reached over and gave her daughter's arm a
quick squeeze. "I wish you had a ring on your finger, but I'm not
living in the Middle Ages. You have 'things' you have to consider,
too, work and all. I know you're both committed to each other.
Fox is nothing if he's not an honorable man. I know he would
never hurt you or leave you alone." But Maggie also sensed that
the guilt in her daughter's eyes had nothing to do with 'living in sin',
there was something more going on here. "You said you yelled at
him. You had a fight, I take it?"
Dana snorted. "Pretty one sided fight, actually, Mom. I did
most of the fighting. I've been so crabby lately. I guess I'm tired, I
don't know. Somedays I just want to curl up about 2 or 3 in the
afternoon and take a nap. Maybe it's the weather. Mulder want's
me to go to a doctor, but I've been putting it off. We've been so
busy." She looked across and could tell that her mother thought
she as straying from the subject at hand. "OK, yes, we had a fight.
Usually, we rent two rooms with an adjoining door. We've been
doing this for years, no one cares by this point. Since Christmas,
well, we've only really _used_ one room. We had a fight,
somewhere around midnight, like I said. I got out of bed and
stormed off to the other room. And I locked the door on my side.
I think he tried to knock once, but I turned the TV up louder so I
could pretend that I couldn't hear him, and he left me alone after
that."
"I didn't really go to sleep. I dozed a little. Then I woke up and
just laid there. I got to thinking about what you told me, that you
and Daddy tried to never go to sleep angry with one another, and I
decided I had been a royal bitch, so I went to apologize. That was
probably about 2 this morning. When I went in, I found him. Like
I told you, fever, having difficulty breathing, unresponsive. I called
911 and tried not to freak out completely. Mom, this isn't the flu.
It came on much too fast. I'm afraid," she stopped. She didn't want
to worry her mother. The past year had been nothing but worry,
especially with Melissa's death. But then, she could see that
Maggie had already picked up on her train of thought.
"You think he might have been poisoned?" Maggie asked, trying
not to let the sound of her own distress seep out into her voice.
"I don't think, I'm sure. Poison or infected by some organism
that these jokers are never going to figure out in time. Ah, Mom, I
can't make them understand that things like this just don't happen by
coincidence," she moaned. "At least not to Mulder and me. They
think I'm crazy," she added with a grim smile. "And they've been
trying to sedate me, so I'll quit bugging them. I called Skinner and
he's working on the evac. _He_ believes me, even if these bastards
don't," she added with another snort.
Maggie started to say something when a tall man with graying
hair and wearing a white lab coat appeared in the doorway. "Agent
Scully?" he asked, a little hesitant. Dana's head shot up and she
glared at him as she stood up.
"I'm Special Agent Scully," she intoned and Maggie flinched,
half expecting her daughter to pull her gun and twirl it around once
or twice before holstering it, just for effect.
"I'm Dr. Fields. I came on at 7 this morning. We just received
word from the FBI in DC that you are listed as Agent Mulder's next
of kin. I'm sorry for the mix up, we couldn't really discuss his case
with you until we were sure of the proper authorizations." He
looked at her sheepishly.
"Don't bother to explain, Dr. Fields. I understand all about
covering your ass from 'violation of privacy' suits. Just tell me what
the hell is going on and let me see my partner," she seethed.
"I would really like to talk to you about his condition first, if I
may. We can speak in my office, it might be more. . .private?" he
offered, trying not to look at Maggie as he spoke, but it was
obvious that she was his source of discomfort.
"Dr. Fields, this is my mother, Margaret Scully and she is a good
friend of Agent Mulder's. If you notice, she is listed as his alternate
next of kin, in case I can't be reached. Anything you want to tell
me, you can say in front of her, Mulder won't mind."
"OK, then, maybe all three of us can go to my office. I have
some X rays to show you and it'll be easier to discuss the lab results
down there," Dr. Fields countered. Dana stood her ground a
minute, she didn't want to lose sight of the door where Mulder was.
There was no guard here, and if her suspicions were correct, she
didn't want to leave him unattended.
Maggie saw the hesitation and understood immediately.
"Honey, you go with Dr. Fields. Since this whole 'next of kin' thing
has been cleared up now, maybe I can go sit with Fox until you
come back. Would that make you feel better?"
Dana shot a look over to Dr. Fields, daring the man to object.
He didn't. "That would be fine with me, Mrs. Scully," he said
brightly. At least he was attempting to play nice now. Dana took a
breath and slowly nodded, stepping in front of the doctor and then
stopping to motion for him to lead the way.
Maggie pushed the door open. She was somewhat surprised
that Fox was still in a private room. From the looks of the room,
however, the doctors had moved all the equipment normally found
in an intensive care unit to this room. A nurse in salmon colored
scrubs was adjusting the flow of an IV and looked up. At the
nurse's questioning glance, Maggie explained. "I'm listed as one of
Fox's next of kin. I'm Maggie Scully. Dr. Fields said it would be all
right if I sat with him a while." The nurse nodded curtly and went
back to work.
From her recent experiences with Dana's coma and Melissa's
shooting, Maggie recognized much of the equipment surrounding
the young man. He was on a ventilator, not unlike the one Dana
had been on just a year and a half ago upon her return. She
watched for a moment as his chest moved up and down in perfect
rhythm to the balloon that was fixed on the machine, just above his
head on the pillow. His face was pale, but his cheeks and the tips
of his ears held a flush that Maggie knew came with a high fever.
The heart monitor was beeping at an annoying rate, not the gentle
beep, beep, beep, of 60 beats a minute, but faster, more like 90
from the digital reading. Maggie might not have gone to medical
school, but she knew that was too fast for a resting heart. She
worried her lower lip and finally reached out to take his hand.
There were IV's in both arms, different colored labels on each of
the two bags hanging above his bed, so she assumed that meant
different medications. She hesitated to hold his hand, she was
afraid she might disturb the tube in his wrist, but he looked so . .
.alone. She shifted for a moment and found a comfortable position
that allowed her to clasp her hand over his and not actually move
his hand. It made her feel better that at least he was getting some
physical contact from another human being and not just enclosed in
plastic tubes and wires.
She watched him intently, wishing him to open his eyes and see
her there. "Ah Fox," she sighed quietly, once the nurse had left the
room. "I haven't even had the chance to welcome you to the
family, yet." She closed her eyes and the tears refused to stay put
behind their barrier. "Please don't leave her. She's going to need
you now more than ever, if my suspicions are right."
If Dana thought she was frustrated when she had no
information, she had no clue as to how frustrated she would feel
once she _had_ information. She had looked at the X rays, it
looked like full blown pneumonia. She looked at the lab work and
none of the results made sense. His white blood count was no
where near where it would be if he had pneumonia. It didn't appear
to be viral, it didn't appear to be bacterial, it was almost as if his
immune system was self destructing with no outside stimulus to
cause it.